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America bought 828,000 mi² from France under Thomas Jefferson's presidency. It's stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, up to Canada's border and down to the Gulf of Mexico. It is seen as one of Jefferson's most important achievements. Later He had Lewis and Clark explore the land and that journey is known as the Lewis and Clark expedition.
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This expedition, also known as the Lewis and Clark expedition, was to cross the newly bought land from the Louisiana purchase from Mexico. Along the way, they developed new trails and produced maps that were key to Americans moving west. It was a small group of US Army and civilian volunteers with Captain Meriwether Lewis and His second lieutenant William Clark.
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In 1844, the Democrat candidate won promising national expansion. He demanded Oregon land until the latitude line of 54 degrees, 40 minutes. This coined the "54-40 or fight" term. His entire platform as he was running was to expand west towards the Pacific and this was very popular among the American settlers.
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Asa Whitney proposed the first plan for transcontinental railroads to Congress in 1845. 17 years later, they finally passed the first Pacific Railroad Act. This granted land to the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad. With the railroads, trade, goods, and people were able to be shipped across the nation in almost no time compared to what it used to take before. This new form of transportation changed the way America was expanding to the new land.
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John O'Sullivan coined the idea "manifest destiny" in his column. He and the rest of America used it as motivation to expand their country
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James K Polk led America against Mexico to gain land that is now California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. 13,238 Americans were killed and 4,152 were wounded during the 2 years of war. This war ended with the Treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo.
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James W Marshall found gold in Coloma, California at Sutter's Mill. This news of gold brought around 300,000 people to California in search of an income. The huge rush of people to California insured the area to become a new state in September 1850. "California dream" was the new idea of California with the rich status tied to the Gold Rush. It is also known as the golden state.
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This treaty was signed on February 2, 1848 in Mexico and it ended the Mexican-American war. This added 525,000 mi.² to America. It also ended up with Mexico giving up all claims to Texas and recognizing America's southern border as the Rio Grande. In return, America also paid $15 million for the cost of war to Mexico.
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The Gadsden Purchase was a treaty finalized in 1854 between America and Mexico for 29,670 mi² to later become Arizona and New Mexico. In return, the US paid $10 million for the land essential for the southern transcontinental railroad. This railroad and land was needed to connect the expanding east to west in America.
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The Oregon Territory takes up modern day Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming. America obtained the land from Great Britain in 1848. It existed until it was broken up to become the Union state of Oregon. On February 14, 1859, Oregon entered as an union state.
